


Defenders of the Universe: The final chapter

by AliceMercy2016 (orphan_account)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura knows what she wants, Axca is Keith's sister, Basically a summary of what I needed the show to give me, Beach Day, Bi Shiro, Diplomat Hunk, F/M, Family Fluff, First Kiss, Gay Keith (Voltron), Happy Ending, I don’t care that they won’t do it this way but writing this made me fell better, LGBT+ Characters, Lot's of talk about emotions, M/M, Matt is a living meme, Narti deserves better, Redeemed lotor, Smart Plaxum, Smart Shay, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Strong Female Characters, Writing down my pain about Season 4, bi lance, bonding moment, non-binary Pidge, pay-off for story lines, strong Allura, supportive Space Dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 10:36:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12363843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/AliceMercy2016
Summary: Keith is the black paladin and Lotor is his biggest concern. Shiro is back, but behaving weird lately. The conflict between the two leaders is threatening the group, but luckily together they can find a way to overcome every obstacle.





	Defenders of the Universe: The final chapter

**Author's Note:**

> I took my grief of what season 4 did not give me and wrote down what I had wished for for these characters. Giving Lotor and his generals a better treatment, giving Hunk the position he deserves, following lose story lines such as the mermaids, the rift and using all the loveable side characters I wanted to see. I was probably inspired by many other sources of fan-made material, such as comics, fics, fanart and theories and I have no way of tracing who originally came up with those. So please consider this a praise of all those wonderful ideas that exist in the fandom.  
> I am not good at writing and no native speaker, so it’s mostly a summary with bits of dialogue, but maybe some people feel similar and can enjoy this.  
> Please don’t be rude if this is not what you wanted. Feel inspired to write your own ending!
> 
> I added a few scenes at the end which only came to mind after I already uploaded it including a kiss scene.

With Keith in the black Lion and Shiro at the bridge tensions are rising. Shiro keeps telling Keith he is the leader now, but keeps telling everyone what to do. The team is initially so happy Shiro is back and so used to him giving orders that no one really questions this, while Keith feels terrible. He gets a notice from the Blade that Prince Lotor is transporting a new form of quintessence across a certain sector and sneaks out one night to investigate this. He runs into Lotor and his generals who have now several ships build from the trans-dimensional comet and are about to overwhelm Keith in Black when Red and Lance come up. Red woke Lance up, when sensing Keith was about to do something dangerous and they rushed to help him. They manage to get away from Lotor and his generals but are confronted by an angry Shiro who catches them when they try to sneak back to their rooms. Shiro is telling Keith that he is more than disappointed of Keith for being so selfish and lacking any discipline. Finally, he questions if Keith will ever become the leader the black lion seems to see in him. He takes the black Bayard from Keith, telling him he will only get it back when he is improving his attitude. This is flowed by Keith having a break down, because the only person he ever considered family basically told him he is worth noting. Lance (who is living next door) realizes this and tries to comfort Keith, despite being a little confused, because he did not expect Keith to be self-conscious at all.

“I always thought you are just super cool and settled and nothing in the world could touch you.”

“Well, you thought wrong!”

“Yes, I guess I did.”

“Are you going to make fun of me now?”

“No! Why would I? You didn’t make fun of me when I came talking to you, did you?”

Keith keeps wiping his eyes and looks away.

“Hey! There is no need to be ashamed. You understand? It’s okay to be upset. This whole situation is just insane. We are lightyears away from home and caught up in a battle of life and death. It’s okay to feel, well, however you feel.”

“It’s not only this. It’s him. He is just so – so different. It’s like he just does not care anymore.”

“Shiro?”

Keith just nodds.

“What is it with you anyways? I mean, how did you guys get to know each other?”

“Why are you asking?”

“I am just curious. I mean, of course he would know you. You are the best pilot of our generation.”

Lance sounds kind of sad and looks at the floor too.

“That’s not how I met him.” Keith says.

Lance looks up again.

And then Keith tells him how when he was in school he was always in trouble and got into fights. How he had to change the school several times and one time he beat up a kid, because they had mocked him for being queer and ended up talking to the school counselor. He was pissed and did not want to talk to her, but then she just said that there was somebody that she wanted him to meet and Shiro walked into the room. He was still a student at the Garrison back then and volunteering as a mentor for kids who were in trouble. They hand chosen him for Keith, because he was openly queer and they thought it might help Keith to have a somebody to talk to.

Shiro made Keith believe in himself, because he believed in him. He told him that he was okay the way he was and a very smart kid. He told Keith that if he just set his mind onto something and stayed calm and focused he could master anything. Keith had an instant crush on Shiro and aspired to be like him. Shiro soon realized Keith’s crush and told him that though he liked Keith a lot, he did not reciprocate his feelings. Also, he said it would be irresponsible for him as a mentor to take advantage of a student. Keith still admired Shiro. His grades improved, he didn’t cause any further trouble and actually got into the Galaxy Garrison after High School. But when Shiro disappeared Keith fell into a hole. He fell back into his old habits which led to him being expelled.

While Keith is telling this and having flashbacks, Lance is just sitting there and listens. He is just there.

“But now turns out that he was completely wrong about me. I can’t do everything. I just can’t do what he expects from me.”

“Man, you need a break from this.”

“What are you talking about?” but Keith’s voice does not sound as angry as usual.

“I mean you need to give your mind some rest, stop thinking so much.”

“Well, you are much better at that then I am.”

“I will just ignore this insult for the sake of your wellbeing. I found this planet in this system that’s supposed to have some really nice beaches and I originally planned to go there by myself, but now it seems that you need this break more than I do, so…”

“So, you suggest we go there, together?” Keith sounds not convinced.

“Yes, as beach buddies!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Best buddies who go to the beach together, so they can get a rest from their exhaustive task of defending the universe. Don’t question everything Mullet. And take those terrible gloves off, okay? Or I will take them off for you.”

They take the red lion and go to the beach and Lance is telling Keith how they are going to hang out, checking out beach babes. Keith asks Lance if he is ever listening to him. Lance remembers what Keith said about being queer and that he had a crush on Shiro. So he just says: “Well, there will be some cute beach boys too, I guess.”

So, they have their day at the beach, starting with a swim competition, since they never got to do that in the castle’s pool. Keith is a surprisingly good swimmer and they go far out, a little bit too far maybe, because Lance suddenly has a cramp in his leg. He goes under water, pedals and gasp for air. Keith grabs him and pulls him back to the beach where he drops Lance into the surge and says: “Don’t expect me to give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

Lance recovers surprisingly fast and goes surfing. He chats with the plants inhabitants while Keith stays in a sun lounger and gets a light sunburn, because he would not allow Lance to apply sunscreen on his back. But when they talk to some space pirates they stumble upon some valuable information about the resistance at the outer rims of the Galaxy and return home to talk to Pidge about this.

Hunk meanwhile organizes meetings with various political leaders, together with Shay who turns out to be quite a capable diplomat herself. Together with Allura they negotiate treaties between former opposed civilizations and bring them together in the coalition. This is all done under Shiro’s supervision. He puts strong focus on convincing more and more people to join Voltron in the struggle against the Galra, with strong anti-Galra sentiments. Pidge meanwhile has found some information about the rebels who freed Matt and while Keith and Lance as well as Hunk and Allura are gone and Shiro is still angry because of Keith Pidge sneaks out of the castle and eventually manages to find Matt at a secret rebel base.

When Keith and Lance return they can’t find Pidge, but she left a note in the high score of the video game that Lance and she are always playing together. She tells them that she is out looking for Matt since everybody is gone and Shiro is being very weird lately. They realize that the team is slowly falling apart and decide to confront Shiro. He is angry at them for running off by themselves again and tells Keith and Lance he will remove them from the team if they don’t obey. Keith speaks out to Shiro that he will no longer accept to be treated like this and the conflict erupts.

Allura and Hunk are coming back and walk right into the fight between Shiro and the boys. Shiro is attacking them with the black Bayard while Lance is fighting back with the red Bayard. Not sure what to think of this mutiny Allura and Hunk are torn between their solidarity for the boys and Shiro. Lance manages to convince Hunk that something about Shiro is off and Hunk takes Shiro down. Allura carries Shiro to the infirmary and they put him in a pod. When Pidge comes back with Matt they examine him. Pidge and Slav find that this Shiro has never been to Earth, due to the molecules in his body and that his body is no older than a few phoebs. Slav and Pidge reason that he must be a clone, probably send by Haggar to infiltrate the team. They are conflicted what to do with him. This is obviously not Shiro, hence the black Lion did not recognize him, but he seems to think he is and they can’t harm him either. They decide just to keep him in stasis for the time being until they learn more.

Pidge shows Matt the castle ship (including the cow shelter and her mess of a room) and Matt gets his own room next to Pidge’s. Pidge, Hunk and Matt team up as tech-specialist and create new exciting tools for their missions. Allura keeps running the diplomacy missions, though slowly questioning the approach of some of the things that the new Shiro had been doing, including the anti-Galra attitude, which also affects the Blades when they show up to a coalition meeting. Many coalition members are no longer comfortable having the Blade around.

Meanwhile Axca has told Lotor that Keith is part Galra and that one of his teammate called him out about this when they met inside the Weblum. Lotor, being aware of the Voltron-Propaganda program senses a chance to cause a rift in the team.

When Team Voltron manages to infiltrate the base where Lotor is hiding his comet ships, they get into a fight. Allura takes on Zethrid again, Axca is fighting Hunk, Pidge is fighting Ezor and Keith is going into a one on one sword combat with Lotor. But when Narti hacks into Lance’s mind and makes him fight against his own team they get separated. Keith, Axca and Lotor end up several floors below the others. Allura uses her magic to free Lance. She also gives him a pep talk about how the team is his family, how he and Blue brought them all together. How he is always putting the safety of others before himself. She says that he is the heart of the team and therefore he is not going to harm them. Lance snaps free and Lotor’s generals flee. But meanwhile Lotor has already gotten what he wanted: a chance to talk to Keith without the others being around. He tells Keith that his goals are different from his father Zarkon’s, that he is going to bring justice and liberation to the Galaxy, so all species, also the Galra can live in peace. Keith is not having any of that at first, but then Axca mentions that Keith should consider who is really on his side of things right now. She mentions all the “Fight the Galra!” propaganda and that it seems that Keith being part Galra is still kind of a problem in his own team. “Just imagine what your precious allies would do if they know that Voltron is piloted by a Galra boy.” And just when they realize that Keith is starting to have doubts they leave again.

Team Voltron departs for the Castle Ship, but Keith does not mention what Lotor told him. Lance and Allura are meanwhile bonding and deepening their sibling-like relationship. He thanks her for believing in him and she says that just like blue she saw that he has potential and maybe he is not meant to be a warrior, but rather a defender, but that’s cool, because Voltron is a defender too.

They come back to the Castle Ship and find that Clone Shiro has broken free and taken Coran, Matt and Slav as hostages. They fight the fake Shiro, who has yellow eyes now, which they guess must have something to do with Haggars quintessence magic. Allura manages to cast a spell at the clone breaking Haggar’s control over him and he goes back to thinking he is just Shiro. Keith carefully explains to the clone that he is not who he thinks he is, but that they will not harm him. They leave him with Slav who tries to figure out how the clone-possession-magic works. Slav replaces the robotic arm, because he figured that this will keeping fake Shiro safe from Haggar. He calls the clone Kuron and makes him his assistant in the lab. Together they try to find out what happened to the “old” Shiro, by looking at the information in Kuron’s old arm. Slav also looks at the Black Lion and finds that it can teleport people. Figuring that the lion would not teleport Shiro to a Galra ship he ties to find out where the old Shiro ended up.

Meanwhile the Blade has become kind of distant with the rest of the coalition, since they don’t feel comfortable about all the Anti-Galra statements. They also feel the pressure of the rest of the alliance to leave and start working by themselves again. Keith tries to convince them to stay, but they say it is better this way and that Voltron can have more allies when they are not involved. They will continue their fight as they did in the underground. Keith begins to doubt the whole situation and the coalition more and more.

Hunk and Shay still work together for the collation. One evening after a meeting they talk about what they are going to do after the war. Shay is worried that Hunk will just return home to Earth and forget about her, but he says that he is eager to find a way to make what they have work. Hunk kisses Shay and she shows him how they show affection on her home world.

Lance meanwhile re-visits the planet of the mermaids and find that they are still having trouble. Though the monster is gone, there are still strange readings from the gardens and people are disappearing. They found a small piece of a comet when they searched the garden. Plaxum and her colleagues found that it’s the same trans-dimension material that Voltron is made of. It caused a tiny rift at the bottom of the ocean where something is leaking into their world now. Lance arranges for the mermaids to be resettled to another planet of the coalition while the scientists are trying to figure out how to close the rift.

Pidge hacks into several Galra databases and finds that her father passed away shortly after being captured. She and Matt are devastated but comfort each other and the team comforts them too. They share memories they have of their parents and Allura and Pidge get to bond a bit over this experience. Keith once more feels excluded, being the only one who has not much to share and does not really know how to. The file Pidge found also states that Shiro died in the fighting pits. They assume that the information must be fake to cover up his escape.

Plaxum works at a water filled laboratory on the Olkari home world, which has become a hub for alliance scientists. Lance, Keith and Plaxum are walk to Plaxum's lab. Slav has built Plaxum a construction so she can move outside of the water to attend meetings with other scientists. She gives Lance a kiss goodbye when they leave her in her under-water-lab. Lance, still a bit blushed, says:

“Isn’t she just awesome? She is so cool and pretty and a freaking genius.”

“So, she is your girlfriend now?” Keith asks.

“No!” Lance laughs “There are way too many hot alien girls out there. It’s impossible to stick to just one!” he adds jokingly.

Keith’s voice is getting serious all the sudden “You know that you are being a massive Quiznak right now?!”

“Whoa! Man, calm down! Where is this coming from all the sudden?”

“You need to stop walking around flirting with every other person that comes your way. This all might be nothing to you, but it might be a whole lot to somebody else. Did you even consider that your behavior could hurt people? Did you ever consider that somebody might have actual affection for you, as unbelievable as this sounds?”

Lance is just starting at him dumbfounded.

“If you develop feelings for somebody, but they are just interested in you when it is fun for them and otherwise you are completely interchangeable, basically nothing to them at all, at some point it breaks your heart.”

Lance needs a second to let this sink in and he realizes how shitty and meaningless his whole behavior has been. He is just looking for the one person to fall in love with, but his approach will not take him there. Everything he has done so far actually works against him.

“You are right.” He says, “I’ve been a massive idiot.” And he hugs Keith who is really flustered about this.

“Thank you for helping me out with this, man. I know what to do now. Do you mind if I go back and talk to her?”

“Why would I?” Keith says, but his eyes say something entirely different.

“Cool! Thanks!” Lance dives into the lab (good that the Paladin armor is also a diving suit) and talks to Plaxum while Keith is waiting outside.

“Hey! Can we talk, for a second?”

“Sure.” Plaxum still looks at her samples and readings on the instruments.

“I just wanted to let you know… about us.”

“What about us?” she turns to him and smiles.

“Well. I want to be honest with you. I really like you…”

“I like you too.”

“But right now, I cannot be with anyone really. The whole Voltron thing and you know…”

“Oh, I understand.” She says, “Take your time.”

“Oh, great! So, that’s it I guess. That’s what I wanted to talk about.”

“Great! So, I guess, see you around then.” She smiles again.

“Yes. See you around!” Lance makes finger guns and turns to swim to the door.

“And Lance,” Plaxum says “thanks for being honest. I really appreciated that.”

“Yeah.”

When he is waiting for the air-lock to open he looks at Keith, still standing in front of the lab waiting for him while reading something on his communication screen. “I wonder who broke your heart this badly, buddy.” Lance mumbles.

Allura is out training her quintessence magic with the elders of a civilization that joined their battle. They are similar to the Balmerans in using quintessence to understand and communicate with their environment. Allura is mentored by an elderly person whose gender is not clear. She is getting frustrated over trying and trying over again to channel her powers and though she has gotten better, she still has a hard time to clear her mind. The aim is to connect her with everything in the universe, to be able to tap into what everybody and everything else is feeling, to see through time and space. When she is about to master it, she has a vision of Shiro who is trapped in a realm outside of reality. She feels that he is in pain and hears him call for the team. Her teacher tells her that she cannot be affected by her feelings for individuals if she wants to master her powers, but she disagrees and point out that only the paladins being her family have her to power to go on at all. She leaves the planet of her teacher and travels back to the castle ship.

With the information from Allura Slav and fake Shiro are able to find out where the old Shiro went. Slav says he is not entirely sure if the first Shiro was the real one after all, because there are hints in Galra databases Pidge infiltrated that the real Shiro died in the fighting pits. Slav thinks that Haggar used his DNA to create a whole bunch of different clone-Shiros. The Shiro they saved at the Garrison might just be another clone, but that Haggar was unbale to control him, because something went wrong in the process of creating him. Keith is shaken first, since he was the only one of the crew who knew Shiro before. But then realizes, that this Shiro just like him does not know about his origin and does not deserve to be judged for it. He has always been good to them and that they really are a family. Team Voltron agrees, that clone of not they want their old Shiro back.

“It doesn’t matter, if he is the one who went on the mission with Matt and my father. He was there with us when we found you Allura.” Says Pidge.

“He was believed in us and helped us to master our lions.” Lance adds.

“And he was the one to teach us to work as a team.” Hunk points out.

“Regardless if this Shiro might be a clone, he has been there for us and it is time that we are there for him. Are you with me?” Keith asks and everybody just says: “Yeah!”

Slav explains to them, that Shiro was teleported to the astral plane, a space between realities, which is difficult to access. He assumes the lion did this because his astral body was badly damaged after the fight with Zarkon and needed healing. Slav further warns them, that the plane is inhabited by dangerous creatures. Regardless, they agree to go. Allura uses a piece of the comet that crashed into the mermaids’ garden to open a temporary portal for them to pass into the astral plane. While Allura and blue stay behind Keith, Hunk, Lance and Pidge go with their lions to safe their space dad.

In the astral plane, they experience weird anomalies. Hunk has a vision that Shay is in danger, Pidge has the same vision of Matt. They are both struggling because feel like they need to get back but then it becomes clear that these visions are just traps, created by the creatures who inhabit the realm. They live off the quintessence that travelers bring to his dimension and are therefore very eager to make them stay by luring them into traps depicting their greatest fears. They proceed their mission, but feel that they are not alone. Keith is the one to find Shiro, who is without conscious. Keith gets out of Black to get him. When he reaches Shiro he has a vision where the creatures are offering him that they’ll only let Shiro go if Keith stays behind. Keith is tempted for a moment. He gives Shiro to Pidge and tells Hunk to take Black with his lion and get out of here. But the others are not having that. They tell Keith that he is their leader, that they need him and they won’t go without him. Together they fight of the creatures living at the plane, unlocking new powers of the red lion which allow it to attack incorporeal things and manage to get back home to Allura with Shiro and their lions.

They put Shiro in a pod immediately and Slav confirms that this Shiro is yet another clone, though a slightly different version from Kuron. He says that this Shiro is older and has been to Earth before, so it must be their Shiro, the black Paladin. When Shiro wakes up he sees his family waiting for him and they get the happy reunion scene they (and we) all deserve. Allura lifts Shiro up into the air and they all laugh. Matt and Shiro reunite and the Paladins tell him about Kuron and Lotor and everything else he missed.

Meanwhile Axca and Lotor are outing Keith as Galra to the Voltron coalition allies. They broadcast this information to the whole galaxy. Many allies are not pleased and start to question Shay who is the representative of the coalition while Voltron is out on missions. She says that she did not know about this, which makes the conspiracies around the topic even worse. Some are calling the red paladin a spy or a traitor.

Keith is unable to confront the situation and hides in the castle ship, though Allura asks him to go out and face the public, telling them that he is different and that he will still lead them in the battle against the empire. Keith does not want this confrontation. He tries to get a hold of the Blade, but they have gone into hiding.

Allura hosts an official banquet to discuss the Keith-Galra-situation with their allies and they are all going dressed up nicely. Hunk is going with Shay, Pidge and Matt are both wearing suits and are goofing around, Lance is going with Plaxum and Shiro is joining Allura. Keith feels dispensable. Shiro is back for real and surely going to lead the team again. Lance has bounded with Red and Allura is excellent in Blue. Also, Keith is a Galra and without him the team would have better chances to keep their allies. He is bitter that everybody is with somebody else, regardless if it’s a date of not, but he is still the loner of the team, unable to connect with people.

He does not stay alone though. Axca shows up disguised as a member of her second species and takes his arm when they walk onto the banquet. She tells him that this whole event is anti-Galra, that Team Voltron is wrong about their approach and that if Lotor succeeds the galaxy will be free and just and safe for the remaining Galras, who are mostly civilians, as well. She also gives a hint that she might know who Keith’s mother is. Keith struggles with his loyalty for the team, but Axca promises that they won’t harm Voltron, they just want to make the galaxy a better place for everyone. She heads for the exit and tells him her ship will be there for another varga and that he should make up his mind.

When Keith overhears a comment of Hunk about something “typically Galra” and when he sees that Shiro is only having eyes for Allura and Lance and Plaxum are laughing together he gets up and takes a walk. In the hallway, he is confronted by some warriors from an ally civilization, who call him out for being a traitor and a spy. They say that he, just like the Blades, will turn his back on them. Keith is trying to argue, but they attack him and it is Axca who comes to his rescue. In the heat of the moment Keith gets on her ship and leaves the banquet.

Keith joins Lotor, reluctant at first, but then he sees that Lotor is not actually harming people who are willing to join his cause, but makes them work with him. He starts to believe that Lotor’s ideas are actually better than those of Team Voltron’s coalition, which is still kind of influenced by Kuron’s initial approach to recruitment. Keith gets to travel to the Galra settlements where civilians live. They see Galra culture, like music, food and dance. Keith things about how much Hunk would enjoy this and gets sad. He watches Galra children play and wonders what his live would have been like if he grew up here. Lotor is treating him like an equal, offering him a place at his side once the revolution is over. Keith is flattered, but hesitant, since he is still not over his heartache and still cares for his team/family deeply. This is when Axca tells Keith that they have the same mother, who was an agent for the Blade and travelled to many planets in search for Voltron and other information which could help to end Zarkon’s reign. She died during a mission, but Axca, who father is a diplomat in his home world, had the pleasure to grow up with her occasionally around. She says she knew how hard it was on Keith’s mother to leave him behind on Earth. She says that their mother believed that different species can get along with each other and that what Lotor is doing is following this ideal.

“She would have wanted this. She would have wanted it for you.”

“How can you know?”

“She told me. She told me she left behind her blade for you, so you could come and find us one day and join our fight. She told me that she believed that you were going to have a big role in all this.”

Keith joins Lotor’s cause for good and is at his side when he makes a public announcement about taking the throne from his father, who is back, but still very fragile, so Haggar put a robot in his place, while he is leading the empire from his bed. Lotor announces that his father’s way and the coalitions way are both flawed and that only his way will bring justice and freedom for all.

When Team Voltron can’t find Keith after the banquet where they manage to calm down their allies, they assume that he has been kidnapped by Acxa. The team plans a rescue mission. Shiro can fly the black lion again, so they can form Voltron. They just arrive at Lotor’s base when they hear the broadcast. They think that Keith must be mind-controlled somehow and enter the room where Lotor is holding his speech announcing that his team will bring a new era to the universe.

“Keith, thanks the elders, you are alright.” Allura says.

“Common! We are here to safe you!” Pidge shouts “Allura, use your magic to cut whatever is controlling his brain.”

“There is nothing controlling my brain.” Keith says calmly.

“Keith.” Shiro says, but Keith just looks at him in his black Paladin armor.

“I am not coming with you.” He says, “You will have safe passage, but I will not come back.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lance shouts.

“Is anybody else having a déjà vu here?” Hunk asks.

“It means that I am staying here. This is where I belong. These are my people and I have to help them. What you are doing is threatening their society.”

“But they are Galra, Keith!” Allura shouts.

“So am I!” he shouts back “Does that mean that I my life is worth less for your precious coalition? Because it seems a lot like this. And I am not willing to let you destroy these people.”

“Keith, are you sure this is what you want?” Shiro asks.

“Never been more certain.” Keith answers, still calmly.

“Then we will go.” Shiro says.

“But… You really gonna leave him here?” Lance almost screams.

“If that is what he wants.” Shiro looks at Keith and Keith is looking back.

Lance face is filled with disbelieve and pain, just like Pidge and Hunk as they turn and walk past Lotor’s generals to their lions.

Lance turns around when walking through the door saying: “I hope you feel good about this, Keith. Because you don’t need to come back after this, not ever!” and turns around silently crying.

Back in the lions the others cry too. Allura feels guilty of being unsensitive, Pidge says it feels like losing a brother all over again, Hunk admits that he has been pretty mean to Keith about him being Galra but he did not expect that it would affect him this much. Lance is really pissed and tells them that Keith turned his back on them. He says that they can do without him and that they need to move forward now.

Back at the castle Shiro walks past Keith’s room thinking about what made the boy turn his back on them when he hears Lance sobbing. He enters Lance’s room, finding him coiled up on his bed.

“Do you want to talk?”

Lance just sobs and turns away.

“What you said about moving forward and making it without Keith…”

Lance makes a pained sound and takes a deep breath: “Okay - it was a lie.” He finally says interrupted by a sob.

“You can’t really go on without him, can you?” Shiro says softly.

Lance shakes his head, still looking at the wall.

“You need him around. You need the banter and the teasing and… you need him.”

Lance hides his face in a pillow.

“That’s totally fine.” Shiro says “You two are two sides of a coin really. You are the heart, he is the sword. You two complement each other. He is your team leader, you are his right-hand man.”

Lance finally sits up, facing Shiro.

“It’s not just that.” He admits.

“I know.”

“What? Wait! You just came back, how did you…?”

“I’ve known for quite a long time.”

“Man, that’s embarrassing!” Lance says, looks down and squishes his pillow in front of his chest.

“Why would it be?”

“Because… I don’t know. Because I always thought I like girls?”

“And?”

“And? Keith’s a guy!”

“Well, you can like both. I do.”

Lance does not know what do reply to that, finally he says:

“But he is my rival. He hates me. There is no way. I mean, look at what he did. He left us… He left me.”

Shiro puts his hand on Lance’s shoulder “For a matter of fact I know that he needs you just as much as you need him, believe me.” Lance does not say anything, just seems lost in his thoughts. After a few doboshes Shiro leaves the room and Lance to his thoughts.

 

Shiro meets Allura out on the hallway.

“Did you talk to him?”

“Yes. This is really hard on him.”

“I imagined.” She says, “I am glad you were there for him. I was thinking about talking to him too.”

“So, you noticed as well?”

“Of course! How could anybody not notice? They were basically pining at each other since you all first came here.”

They both chuckle and walk next to each other for a while.

“It must have been difficult for you too, to see Keith go.”

“He has his own head.” Shiro sighs.

“Don’t be hard to yourself. You are really doing the best for these kids. I can tell. It did not go well when we were stuck with the other guy.” She chuckles again and smiles “They missed you. I missed you.”

And then Allura suddenly bends over and touches Shiro behind his ear. He flinches and looks at her confused his arm up as if to defend himself.

“Oh! I am terribly sorry.” Allura says “Is that not how you show affection on Earth?”

“Oh! Well – ugh – no.” Shiro stutters and then says: “I am sorry, I just did not expect this.”

“What do you earthlings do then?” Allura asks tilting her head.

“Kissing.” Shiro answers and when she looks confused he says: “You know, squishing your lips together?”

“Ugh! You mean what Lance is always trying to do? That seems unsanitary. Why do you people do that?”

Shiro swallows. “I don’t really know.” he admits “Maybe because it feels nice.”

They continue walking down the hall when Shiro asks: “Do you mind if I ask you how old you are Allura?”

“About Ten thousand and twenty Deca-Phoebs. I must say that I kind of lost track a while ago. Why?” she laughs.

“Because, this… us…” he does not know how to send the sentence.

“Because you worry you might be too old for me? You are not even four Deca-Phoebs old!”

“But I have the memories of a gown man.”

“Well, I have the memories of a large part the universe! You might not have realized this, but there is nothing _normal_ about the people who live in this castle ship, including you. We are all special. You are special.”

They have stopped again to look at each other and then after a while he says “Could you do that again? I mean what you just did?”

And Allura smirks and reaches for his ears, both this time, and slowly runs her fingers along the helixes. Shiro shivers and carefully reaches for her ears, which are much bigger than his and spiky.

“Is it okay like that?” he asks her, while he is carefully touching the tip of her ear.

“It’s much better than okay.” Allura laughs “But, wait! Let me show you.” And she takes his fingers in hers and slowly moves them along her helix.

They are standing in the dim light of the hallway and are getting lost in the sensation.

“How come you wanted to do this?” Shiro asks her after a while.

“Well, I figured I just felt like it. And being a good father figure makes you incredibly attractive, you know?” she smiles.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this right here. You know, somebody could walk in on us.”

“You are right. I should take you to my room and show you some more ways Alteans show their affection. I mean, if you want to.” They look at each other for a second and then Shiro just nods slightly and she takes his hand and pulls the blushing Paladin with her.

About two vargas later Lance comes into the common area where Hunk, Pidge and Matt are having space goo lunch with Coran, Slav and Kuron. Shiro and Allura are just walking in as well. Shiro scar is looking a bit pinker than usual and Allura’s cheeks are auroral. Shiro is reminiscing about what just happened and if that could be the most exceptional thing that happened to him in his life so far. He concludes that it is. Allura is incredible strong and able to lift and hold him up with only one arm. There are a bunch of things that are remarkable about her, but he does not allow himself to think about these details right now.

“We need to go and get him!” Lance says.

“Whom?” Slav asks.

“Keith!” Lance almost shouts.

“What? But he just made pretty clear that he does not want us to take him back home.” Pidge is poking her space goo.

“Whatever is going on with Lotor, we need to go back there and talk to Keith again.”

“But why?” Hunk asks.

“Because this is one of the 90,5% of realities where they have a good chance of ending up together.” Slav says and Lance blushes.

Meanwhile Lotor tells Keith that he did build the comet ships to harvest the purest quintessence, because he believes it can bring back his parents from their state of being kind of undeath for several thousand years. They were poisoned by quintessence when they researched it ten thousand years ago, to find a way to heal Lotor, who was a fragile child and due to a birth defect destined to die very young. His mother would not give in to this idea and pushed the boundaries of science to safe her son. She discovered that quintessence made her son better, but she exposed herself so much to it that she became ill. When she was getting worse his father decided to save her life by taking her into the rift. However, he failed and they both became possessed by creatures who live in the space between and appeared to be dead before they rose again and were completely changed. Lotor, who meanwhile had been treated successfully found his parents had changed completely and over the years devised a plan to save them, like they had saved him. He has travelled to different realities to find one where they were able to bypass the creatures in the rift. He finds out that magic can protect one from becoming corrupted by the creatures from the rift, which his parents weren’t, due to his mother being too sick to wield her magic at this time. Lotor himself, being half-Altean, is able to wield magic and plans to use this to free his parents. Keith is impressed and realized Lotor is not such a bad person after all and that they have a lot in common. They value and love their respective families a lot. He almost gives in to Lotor trying to kiss him, but then turns away in the very last second, saying that he needs more time.

Team Voltron consult with the scientists and they found that the rift on the mermaids’ planet is getting bigger. Creatures from the astral plane are trying to get to this reality to harvest its quintessence. Slav and Plaxum figure that just like the queen of mermaids’ Zarkon and Honnerva must be possessed by those creatures and that they try to open bigger and bigger rifts by using the comet ships Lotor build. Matt’s rebel spies have overheard that Zarkon is making an attack on Lotor’s base to take the ships.

They use what they learned about the comets and the rift and coming up with plan to close the rift using Voltron, Lotor’s comet ships and Allura’s magic. Slav points out that they will need more than one person to fuel a magic this powerful. Shay and some of her people step up and volunteer to join which encourages other quintessence sensitive people in the coalition to do the same. Hunk is worried about Shay, but she tells him that she needs to do this for them to have a future and he kisses her.

They form Voltron to pass through Zarkon’s fleet that already started attacking Lotor’s base. Coran and the Castle Ship, Matt and the rebels as well as the coalition try to keep the fleet busy to buy some time for Voltron. Shiro had send a notice to the Blade and they also show up for this final battle, saving Matt and Coran last minute. Matt is badly injured but Kolivan rescues him from the debris of his pod.

Voltron meanwhile has passed the front line and they enter Lotor’s base. Allura breaks open the hanger doors with her bare hands. Hunk stays behind fighting off sentients trying to enter the base, Pidge hacks into the system and turns off the defenses but also needs to stay in place, because the system adjusts every few dobashes and she needs to manually bypass it. Shiro, Lance and Allura reach the hangar with Lotor’s ships where Lotor, the generals and Keith are already fighting the Druids and Haggar, who have teleported there and opened another rift. Allura starts her ritual, supported by Shay and many others on the castle ship and several planets throughout the galaxy. Shiro stays to protect her. Lance joins Lotor’s group in their fight against the druids and finally gets to Keith. They are fighting back to back.

“What are you doing here?”

“Keeping you safe.”

“I am serious. What is all this?”

“Turns out that things are actually more complicated than originally thought.”

“So, you finally realized that too?”

“This is not the time for discussions.”

“Oh, you are the right person to say that. You…”

But then Lance gets his by a ray of dark magic that was aimed at Keith and falls from the platform they were standing on. Keith jumps after him and catches him, but Lance is clearly not okay. He has a strange looking alien wound right over his heart.

“I got you buddy.” Lance says.

“You idiot! Why did you do that?”

Lance just smiles at Keith sadly and says: “Because I had to.” And he closes his eyes.

“No! No! You can’t do this to me right now. Remember, we need to store all the information from your brain on a giant space ship!”

“Won’t need much more than a sheet of paper to do that.” Lance says.

“You know I was just mocking you. We will get you out of here and store all the information from your brain on a space ship and then we’ll get to travel the galaxy, together.”

“I would be getting on your nerves.” Lance laughs, but his voice is quite weak already.

“You would! But I could travel like this forever, at least for a long time. Maybe begin half-Galra will give me a longer life span.” He keeps talking because he does not know what else to do and he is afraid that Lance is falling asleep and not waking up again “You need to stay with me, Buddy!”

But Lance is gone. Keith gulps and tears fill his eyes. The he remembers the rift and what Zarkon did for Honerva. He takes Lance and leaps over to the middle of the hanger where the druids have opened the gate to the astral plane. He does not hesitate for a second but just jumps right in, remembering that Lotor told him that his parents became corrupted when they entered. Shiro is seeing this and shouts Keith’s name. Allura looks up as well and sees Keith and unconscious Lance falling into the rift. She gasps and loses control of her magic for a second. She realizes that she cannot do this alone, despite the support from far away, she needs more magic. She tells Shiro: “I won’t make it.” He looks back at her with much pain in his eyes but then suddenly gets down on his knees, mimicking Allura’s posture. She feels that he is pouring quintessence into her spell.

Lotor and Axca are observing them.

“What are they doing?”

“They are trying to close the rifts. This creature my mother created possesses a small amount of Altean genes that are supposed to tie him to her. He is wielding Altean magic.”

Allura still feels that they are not strong enough to make it, when suddenly there is a movement next to her. It’s prince Lotor and she is already ready to grab her staff and attack when she sees that he is kneeing and pouring his magic into her spell as well. She looks at him and gives him a nod and they proceed. Allura is pained by the fact that Keith and Lance just disappeared in the rift they are going to close, but she knows she has no other choice.

Meanwhile in the rift Keith and Lance are drifting through the pure quintessence. Keith is worried that they might become possessed by the creatures. He looks at Lance who is showing no signs of live and feels miserable. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. But what else was he supposed to do? The thought of losing Lance is just too much to stand. He looks around and feels the creatures coming closer. He fights them off with his Bayard. He holds Lance tight and think about the others, about Shiro and Allura trying to close the gate, about Hunk and Pidge keeping them safe at the station. He realizes that he did not know all this, but that this comes to his mind though a connection just now. He feels a connection to all of them. There is also a connection to Red, waiting for them outside. And below this all, very faint but there never the less he feels a connection to Lance. It’s a faint blue light and Keith is trying to hold on to it with all he has.

Allura senses that something is coming from the rift, but it’s not the creatures. Meanwhile Lotor’s generals have taken down all the Druids and captured Haggar. Allura knows that something is going to happen. She feels the connection to Keith, a red light somewhere in the distance in the rift. She focuses and sends all her energy there. She senses that also Pidge and Hunk are now connected and are also sending their life force to her in their respective colors. She channels it and focuses on the astral plane and to keep the creatures at bay. She hears that Haggar is screaming and sees black shadows leaving her body and entering the rift. She concentrates on keeping Keith and Lance safe while simultaneously closing the rift.

Keith feels that suddenly there is something rising inside of him. His body is glowing in a red light. It envelops him and Lance and lifts them up. The area around them is changing while they are drifting in space. Lance’s blue light is getting stronger and he is opening his eyes. Keith is overwhelmed with happiness and pulls him even closer but Lance groans and makes a pained face so Keith loosens his grip and they drift through space just connected through their hands holding on to each other. The space around them turns purple with stripes of rainbow colors (red, yellow, green and blue). They look at each other and just feel overwhelmed.

The red lion bursts through a wall of the hangar and positions over the rift. It’s activating its newest weapon which they used in the astral plane before. Allura is finally getting a hold off Keith and Lance. She is floating in a cloud of light above the ground and her hair has gotten loose. Pulling her right hand up she manages to lift the two Paladins out of the rift. She collapses on the floor but Lotor and Shiro, Pidge and Hunk are still there and together with Shay and all the others they close the rift and all other rifts in their reality.

Shiro is looking after Allura while Hunk and Pidge come running to look after Keith and Lance. They find them on the floor of the Hanger. The rift is gone, but they are not moving. Hunk starts to cry and Pidge cries too while Shiro and Allura approach. But then Lance is opening his eyes and looking at them and Keith is tightening his grip around Lance’s hand, slowly waking up as well and everybody sighs and cries in relieve.

Lotor is approaching Haggar and she has turned into an older version of Honerva, but no longer has the blue skin color she used to have. He is looking at her with a worried face: “Mother?”  
“Lotor, my boy.” She smiles, looking really exhausted. He takes her in his arms and carries her to his comet ship. His generals follow him. Meanwhile team Voltron is loudly chatting and crying and laughing all at the same time and Pidge and Hunk are hugging Lance and Shiro hugs Keith and they are just overwhelmed with what just happened. Lotor looks at Allura and they both nod.

Lotor manages to get to his father’s ship and finds Zarkon on his deathbed. They make their peace and Zarkon tells Lotor that he wants him to take over the empire. Lotor tells his father that he is going to do things quite differently from what he did and Zarkon just says that that’s good and then he dies.

Lotor announces himself Emperor and calls all fleets back to their home stations, prohibiting attacks on defenseless planets. He starts reforms as promised and offers the Empire’s provinces to stay with them or leave as they like. He promises that they will build a strong union to defend their galaxy from treats from other realities. He promises to share the knowledge gained during his trans-dimensional travel. Many civilizations actually decide to sit down and listen to what he has to say.

Team Voltron returns home to the castle ship where they are welcomed by Coran who is moved to tears. They travel to Olkarion and reunite with Matt, Shay, Slav, Kuron and all their other allies. They decide that the coalition and the new Galra Empire need to start talking and Shay and Hunk are the ones who are becoming active to get all the leaders and Lotor at one table. They also invite the Blade and the rebels to the talks.

“These discussions are going to be exhaustive.” Hunk says “But there is no way around this. Also, I have the best partner at my side that I could ever think of.” He looks at Shay and she smiles fondly.

Once the biggest fuss is over, Keith sits at the edge of Allura’s control panel at the castle bridge, looking into the infinity of space outside. A door opens and steps come closer.

“Hey man! Do you mind if I…?”

“No, not at all.”

Lance sits down next to him. They sit there in silence for a while not looking at each other. Finally, Lance’s gaze wanders to Keith’s hand and he carefully reaches out at touches Keith’s pinky. Shocked about his own boldness he pulls back, but when he realizes that Keith did not even flinch he tries again and this time takes Keith’s whole hand into his. Keith is lifting up his hand and entwining their fingers. They both take a deep breath and blush, still not looking at each other.

“You took the stupid glows off.” Lance notices. Keith just shrugs and they fall back into silence.

“I did not expect this to be mutual.” Keith finally says.

“Me neither.” Lance relies.

“When did you know?”

“That I like you?”

Keith nods.

“When you left. It just hurt so bad, I can’t even describe it. I thought I would just go insane without you.”

They are both still looking out into space.

“Though, I think it was there long before, actually. I have no idea when it even started, but it feels as if it’s been there for a really long time. What about you?” Lance finally looks at Keith, who is still looking ahead.

“The night we defeated Sendak,” He finally says, after what felt like an eternity of silence to Lance “I carried you to the infirmary.” Finally, he turns towards Lance but is still not looking at him, but at the floor between them.

“You don’t remember but I carried you and you were talking nonsense. You probably had a concussion. But you were so different, not pretentious and showy as usual but just really open and kind of cute.”

Lance just sits there and listens. He can’t remember that night. He just recalls that Keith was upset when they talked about it later, but he never figured out why.

“I told you that I really liked you much better this way. We both laughed and…” Keith stops for a moment and takes a deep breath “…and then you tried to kiss me.”

Lance is just sitting there, mouth open, staring at Keith baffled by this reveal when Keith turns and looks at him.

“You had a concussion. You were clearly not yourself at that moment. So, I stopped you. It would have felt wrong. But ever since then I couldn’t help but wonder…”

“What it would be like?” Lance asks.

Keith nods.

“Why don’t we just try then?” Lance is surprised by his own boldness.

Their eyes meet and they slowly move closer looking nervously at each other, until their foreheads touch. They both remember the first time they did this, when they were fighting about whether to leave the castle ship on their first day here at this very place and it makes them smile. They both close their eyes and can feel their hearts beat in anticipation. Lance is slowly closing the gap between their lips, softly melting into Keith’s. They remain like this for a few seconds, charting unknown territory but then Keith pushes towards Lance, grabs his jacket and pulls him closer and deeper into the kiss without breaking it.

This is when Shiro and Pidge walk in from behind. Pidge and Matt have just found a way to send messages to Earth, letting their families know that they are alright. Pidge is supper excited to tell Lance, since she knows how much he misses his family. When they see the two boys snogging Pidge makes a face but Shiro smiles and says quietly: “Let them have this moment.” and they walk back to the others.

One evening Keith and Lance are walking into the dining room, holding hands. Hunk has already prepared dinner, Allura and Shiro help him to set the table. Pidge and Matt are goofing around. Matt took a few days to recover from his injuries from the final battel. Fortunately, the castle had enough healing pots to fit all those who needed treatment.

Everybody looks up when Lance clears his throat.

“There is something we need to tell you.” Keith says.

Everybody is looking and them. Shiro is giving them one of his reassuring smiles.

“Well, Keith and I, we are together.” Lance says “Not together like we came to dinner together but, _together_ together, like in being a couple. Of course, we don’t have to be a couple to show up to dinner together, we can do that as team mates, but we are a couple.”

Matt is making the absolutely shocked Anime-face saying “What, you are gay? How?”

“I’ve known for some time.” Allura says “I am glad you shared this with everyone.” (the mice told her, of course!)

“Yeah, I figured.” Says Hunk.

“Oh, yeah. Me too.” Says Pidge.

“Wait, we were supposed to think you were just friends?” Coran asks.

“Owning who you are is gonna make you better people.”

The two boys take a deep breath and then look at each other smiling before they sit down for dinner and start bickering again.

Matt is still stunned: “Wait, what? They are a couple and everybody knew? How long have I been out?”

Pidge grabs his arm and pulls him to the table: “Actually, it was pretty obvious. I guess you just missed the pining and tacky moments, like that time Keith cradled Lance in his arms.”

“Or that time Lance was jealous because Keith had run off with Allura.” Hunk snickers.

“Or that time they went to the pool together.” Pidge laughs.

“Common! Shut it you two!” Keith grumbles, but Hunk and Pidge just chuckle.

Allura looks at Shiro and smiles.

“Just like any other day at the Castle Ship.” She says.

“Pretty much.” He replies, putting some of Hunk’s amazing looking casserole on his plate.

“Where will we go from here? What are we going to do next? I could really use a break from this, don’t you?”

“You mean like a vacation?”

“Yes!”

“Do princesses get to go on vacation?”

“Why not?”

“Well, were would you like to go?”

“Somewhere nice and peaceful.”

“Are you sure you could handle this much peace and quiet?”

“No, but I really want to try.”

Shiro and Allura decide that they are going to leave the leading and politics to Hunk and Shay (at least for a while) and take a break on Earth while Coran stays at the Castle Ship with Slav and Kuron, fixing the damage they took during the fight and updating a few things that Slav never really had the time for so far. Allura shapeshifts human ears and she and Shiro take a trip across several countries on Earth. They visit Disney Land and Hawaii, Paris and Tokyo. Allura is fascinated by the diversity but still somewhat confused about Earth customs. She thinks milk and meat are gross and finds public transportation confusing. Shiro finally gets the break he needed for so long and the time to think about what is between him and Allura and if that might be more than just a casual affair with his superior. They don’t have to figure this out right away though. Give them some time. They more than deserve it.

Pidge and Matt take the green Lion to go home to Earth and see their mother, who is overwhelmed by happiness to see that her children are still alive, but also griefs deeply when her husband is confirmed dead. Matt and Pidge then decide that they will travel the galaxy together in the green lion, doing research and working together with Hunk and Shay to strengthen the peace in the galaxy. Pidge discovers a new element that she names after their father “Sam-Holt”.

Hunk also returns to his family for a short time. He explains to them, that he has a responsibility in the intergalactic government and a girlfriend and co-worker who needs him, but that they will come and visit in the yellow lion as often as they can.

Finally, Lance is coming home to his family. When his mother opens the door, she is overwhelmed with joy and they both hug and cry instantly. Then she looks over Lance’s shoulder at Keith, who is standing there, looking a little bit lost.

“Mom, this is Keith.” Says Lance and is blushing slightly.

His mom with a big smile on her face says: “Oh! Nice to finally meet you, Keith.”

“Nice to meet you too Mrs. McClain.” Keith says, slightly confused looking at Lance. His eyes are clearly saying: “What is going on here? How does your mom know who I am?”

“This one would not shut up about you ever since he started at the Garrison. He was always like: Keith’s doing this, Keith’s doing that…”

“Mom, please!” Lance complains, blushing even more.

“Oh, common. It was totally obvious that you had a crush on him.” She smiles: ”It’s almost as if we know you already. The kids will be thrilled to meet you. I know the Garrison said you have been on this super-secret mission you cannot tell anybody about, but what the hell were you doing?”

“Can’t really talk about this mom.” Lance says, pushing her inside.

“He saved my life. More than once.” Keith says.

“And you saved mine.” Lance says and smiles.

“This sounds like a dangerous mission. Maybe I don’t want to know the details.” Lance’s mom laughs but Lance can tell she is looking at him like the proudest mother in the universe right now.

They all walk into the house where Lance’s siblings and their children are waiting in the living room and Keith is hesitant for a second but then takes a deep breath, smiles softly and walks in.


End file.
